The double-wide lay quiet… eerie, almost. Nothing was moving, stirring as the first signs of daylight peaked through the windows.
Well, the ones that didn't have heavy curtains pulled over them.
If someone were to be in the house, the only thing they'd hear, apart from the furnace kicking on every so often, would be occasional snoring.
The inside of the three-bedroom trailer only had one occupant- a high school junior who went to school inside the city limits who, undoubtedly, had a bad past.
The kitchen and living room were both decently kept, though someone with OCD would more than likely flip out at the housekeeping that was a few days overdue. The interior of the trailer was simple: paneling on the walls and linoleum floors all throughout. The living room consisted of a couch from 1972 that sat across from the entertainment center and TV, as well as a two-by-three milk crate bookshelf filled with books, notebooks, and folders, and a coffee table in front of the couch that came from a yard sale, as well as a console piano with a few music books made from plastic folders and sheet protectors and a lava lamp on it, as well as an electric guitar next to the setup.
In the kitchen, a folding card table sat with three chairs around it with the remaining side at the window. The countertops were adorned with the usual college-student-grade amenities, complete with a microwave that needed to be replaced, likely from her cousin that used the house before she transferred from community college.
One of the additional bedrooms had been used primarily for storage while the other was a cave- the windows were covered up, a large desk sat with three monitors, a laptop dock, and a setup that most gamers would envy… sans the actual computer. In the room also sat computers in various states of assembly, all ranging from freshly-torn-apart to just needing a few screws and stickers before being sellable, as well as one that ran continuously that still had $10 written on the side in silver marker with a sticker on the front that said «SERVER – LEAVE ON!», as well as a few accompanying drives, both filled with various data.
All-in-all, it was well-used.
The third bedroom, the main bedroom, had a gray teen asleep on the queen-size bed in the corner of the room wearing only tiger-skin underwear and a digital watch from 1985, her ice-blue hair messy from tossing and turning all night. Across the room sat a small TV from Walmart on a folding table next to the bathroom door. Next to the bed was a nightstand that held a lava lamp, rechargeable lantern, a pair of rectangular sunglasses, and her phone, charging in its stand. Curiously, though, one of the drawers had a cable coming out of it, though it was only for the girl's tablet, which only served its purpose as an eReader that could show documents.
Just moments later, her phone flashed 6:30 and began playing an intentionally-obnoxious Chinese song at an equally-obnoxious volume.
"What?" a half-asleep Sapphire Twister mumbled, keeping her eyes closed as she rolled out of her own drool and muttered something in Chinese.
「I… didn't… fucking do it.」
The noise persisted until Sapphire relented and forced herself to look at what pulled her out of Shenzhen's bustling tech departments and forced her back into the real world.
"Goddammit," she muttered, crawling over to shut off the alarm, "And it's only Wednesday."
Eventually bringing herself to get out of bed, Sapphire Twister smelled under her arm and recoiled before shutting the TV off and heading to the kitchen to start a pot of coffee.
"Forgot to shower yesterday," she mumbled as she turned on the pot.
Sapphire Twister didn't have much energy in the morning… hell, she usually didn't make it to bed untilat least3:00 in the morning- the true definition of a night owl, though it wasn't unheard of for her to stay awake past dawn in the summer months… given she didn't have anything to do the next day and could sleep until lunch.
As soon as the coffee maker began to boil the water, she sat a mug on the counter with the Chinese character 亞 printed on it in calligraphy before trudging back to the bathroom for a hot shower.
The coffee would be finished by the time she was out, so she started drinking mug-after-mug of coffee until the pot was empty.
Rinse… Refill… Repeat.
While the second pot was brewing, Sapphire grabbed a blue shirt with the words 深圳科博会二千零一十五 printed on it in white, a souvenir that a different cousin of hers got on a trip to China in 2015, blue jeans, a black denim jacket with the Volkswagen Logo captioned with the words Der Wagen des Volkes printed on the back, and a pair of dark boots- her arm bands stayed on pretty much all of the time, like her watch, and her sunglasses generally lived on the top of her head, assuming she wasn't outside on a sunny day. Her lanyard, the most important piece, carrying a rather-capable jump drive around her neck with some important stuff on it that shouldn't be on her laptop until she needed it.
Living on a popular, family-owned campground did have its perks, and Sapphire was certain that, unless anything took a drastic turn for the worst, she'd be staying at 9 Lakeview Pass for years to come.
Eventually downing both pots of coffee and grabbing some leftover Pad Thai from the refrigerator, she walked out to her car with her laptop bag on her shoulder, intent on two destinations: Stop by the coffee shop and go to the hell known as "School".
And in that order.
Eventually pulling into the school, a playlist blasting through the car stereo and another emptied coffee cup added to the trashbag, she saw Sunset Shimmer standing in the way of her usual parking space: a corner spot next to Derpy's gray Volkswagen Beetle.
Waiting for any reaction, she sat there with her foot on the brake and the car in neutral for about thirty seconds before stepping on the gas and making everyone around them jump before laying on the horn.
Eventually Sunset came over to the driver's window, which was now rolled down about an inch.
"You know the deal," Sunset said to Sapphire, who coasted into the parking space.
"I know that I'm tired, irritated, and pissed," Sapphire said, "Leave it alone- I didn't even have to show up today."
"Wiseguy, huh?" she said, leaning over to the glass, "Well, let me sh-"
Without a second thought, Sapphire rammed the door into Sunset before closing it, killing the engine, and heading inside.
"Cunt," she muttered as she went in the front of the building and readied herself to not pay attention in class.
"C'me on, Sapphire!" her cross-eyed friend said, pulling her to their class before the bell rang, "You know what Ms Harshwhinny said-"
"And I don't care," Sapphire said, "Derpy, read my lips: She can't do shit to me."
"She can give you detention."
"But I don't have to show up. You see, if she wants history to be interesting, she doesn't have to drone on about it," Sapphire said, "Besides, I ran into Sunset again in the parking lot."
"Did she hurt you?"
"There's a her-shaped dent in my Plymouth now," Sapphire said, inciting a wince from Derpy.
That one thing let the cross-eyed teen know that today was not a good day for irritating Sapphire.
Eventually making it to Ms Harshwhinny's classroom, the teacher looked at them both with contempt.
"I'm sorry we're late," Derpy said, trying to not get as stringent of a punishment as the teacher's promise, "Sapphire wa-"
"Ugh," the teacher said, "You two, take your seats."
"No suspension?" Sapphire said, her brow furrowed.
"I spent last night thinking it over, and if you don't want to show up for class on time and reprimanding you doesn't work, then I see little use in continuing, although I'd like for you to stay here at least until I can get attendance posted that you showed up on a Wednesday," the teacher said, "As for you, Derpy, don't let Sapphire pull you down to her level."
"Yes, ma'am!" she said as they both took their seats, one in the middle row and the other at a table in the back of the room, waiting for the first block bell to ring.
As soon as the bell rang, Sapphire hightailed it out of the classroom.
Being that some students had homeroom and first block in the same classroom, it wasn't as crowded as any other part of the day, though on the way to the library, she overheard Sunset Shimmer making yet another scene, so she decided to lean against a locker and watch, from a distance of course.
Today, however, she saw a new student acting somewhat strangely as she tried to listen in as well.
"I'm really sorry," the other girl said, "I- I just found it an- and I thought I should just give it to her. I didn't know you had dropped it."
"Well I did and I was about to get it before you swooped in and ruined everything!" Sunset said, chewing the girl out, "You shouldn't pick up things that don't belong to you!"
"It doesn't really belong to you, either."
"Excuse me!?" Sunset said, slamming her hands into the lockers.
"N- nothing," the other girl said, slumping down to the floor.
"That's what I thought! It's as good as mine and you know it. You really are pathetic- it's no wonder your friends are all stray animals!"
The new girl stepped down the hallway.
"How dare you speak to her that way?" the new girl demanded, piquing everyone's interest.
"What did you say?" Sunset demanded as the two walked up to each other.
That poor idiot. This is about to get interesting. I wish I had noodles and a camera, Sapphire thought, her brows raising on her otherwise-expressionless face as the few other students not involved with the scene tried to hide or step back.
"I said, 'How dare you speak to her that way?'!" she reiterated.
"You must be new here," Sunset said, a sly smile forming on her face as she walked in my direction, "I can speak to anyone any way I want," she finished, glaring at someone in a locker before it slammed shut.
"Damn," she muttered, heading to the library.
As soon as she got there, she unpacked her things, set a timer, and got to work on her and Derpy's latest project.
Both had signed up for the computer club, although they were real coders- not the techies that usually enrolled in such clubs. Derpy enjoyed the engagement that came with being around people of similar interests while Sapphire enjoyed being able to skip PE without repercussions on a weekly basis. Still, they found ways of occupying their time without revealing who they were behind a keyboard and seventeen-inch screen.
「Do I wanna use the PERSIST or the DISCONNECT method?」 Sapphire muttered in Chinese as a program loaded on her laptop before furiously typing away,「PERSIST with option for DISCONNECT, it's a stealth network script.」
Sapphire didn't understand why Derpy didn't come with her, although Derpy was a good person at heart while Sapphire fell somewhere along the lines of Chaotic Neutral, and everyone knew it.
Hell, at her old school on the other side of the country, friends and bullies alike, save for the occasional shove or cup of coffee, were experiences unknown to her. Her first year in Canterlot, though, she seemed to really connect with Derpy over their abilities behind a keyboard and, while Derpy wasn't so much into it, animé. Within a few months, while not frequent, it wasn't an uncommon sight to see them hanging out in town or on the campground.
Eventually, while she was down the rabbit hole in a piece of software that Sapphire had to make exist, her phone began playing a North Korean song on the violin and flashed 9:32, pulling her out of her trance so she could pack up and get to science class-
Today's a lab day!
Sapphire was a big fan of the hands-on approach to learning and Derpy's father as a teacher in general, though she couldn't quite figure out how Derpy herself could be so clumsy.
It was a mystery for sure.
"Alright, class," Dr Hooves said as everyone got to their lab stations, "I hope you're all ready for the flame test lab today."
"This'll be the most access I've had to fire since my stove quit working," Sapphire said, nonchalantly, attracting the attention of everyone around her and slightly worrying Time Turner and Derpy, "I like what it does to Thai food," she replied with a shrug and a furrowed brow, internally questioning everyone's reaction to her statement.
After a few moments, the class continued on and Dr Hooves instructed the students, working in pairs, through the lab, though one thing did irritate Derpy.
"Why do you never write anything?" Derpy asked.
"Huh?" Sapphire responded, burning the copper with the Bunsen burner.
"You've always done the experiment while I do all of the writing."
"You've never actually seen my handwriting before… have you?"
Derpy shook her head in response, unsure of where Sapphire was going with her question.
"You know the font 'BirchCTT'?"
Confusion painted itself across Derpy's face- she had no idea what that looked like.
"Alright, my handwriting is atrocious," Sapphire said, taking two sheets of notebook paper out of the one binder she carried with her to school, "Here's what we'll do: we'll set fire to half of the material each and answer the questions. Whoever has the better handwriting, they write the answers on the sheet that we actually turn in. That way, we both do equal parts of the work."
"Alright."
As soon as they finished the lab and was comparing each other's handwriting, Derpy recoiled at Sapphire's handwriting and understood more than enough.
"This is terrible!" she said.
"Your handwriting looks kind of like the Ink Free typeface and mine resembles BirchCTT, only with half of the legibility."
"Oh… wow."
"Tell you what I'll do," Sapphire said, taking the papers, "I have PE today, so I'll type these up in LibreOffice, print it out, and make it look like I forgot to hand it in at the end of the block. Your dad should be okay with that, right?"
"I think so."
"Great," Sapphire said, shoving the notebook in her bag before cleaning up the table.
On lab days, any time after the lab was done was fair game, so Sapphire generally used it to work on finishing whatever project she was working on- in this case, it was typing up the assignment before going to English, which was another unspectacular feat- a test that was interrupted mid-block for lunch.
The cafeteria, like always, was crowded, but each staying to their own clique, save for some outliers.
"You wanna see what the techies or rockers are up to today?" Derpy said as Sapphire checked her bottle of Red Bull to make sure it was still cold.
Yup.
"Nah," the less-enthusiastic girl said, spotting the new girl with the yellow girl, "I have a better idea- follow me."
Derpy raised an eyebrow as she followed Sapphire with her lunch tray in her hands to the table where the other girls were sitting.
"Please excuse me," Sapphire half-assed, sitting on the opposite end of the table from the new girl with her bag in between the two.
At least she waited for Derpy to sit down before she took out her chopsticks and started eating day-old Pad Thai.
"What's… with those two?" the new girl asked.
"Twilight, they're an odd couple. Sapphire Twister doesn't fit in anywhere, so Derpy hangs out with her- She kind of reminds me of Moondancer."
New girl is Twilight. Also, stop comparing me to that smelly cunt.
Twilight's eyes lit up briefly before turning to Sapphire, "What things interest you? I've never seen a pony- person without a friend in the world like you are."
Sapphire raised an eyebrow before drinking some of her red bull, the smell of which made Twilight and the yellow girl recoil slightly, but Derpy showed no reaction to it.
"Something about you is off. Very much so."
"Could she come tonight?" Derpy asked Sapphire.
"Who?"
"Twilight, silly!"
Sapphire turned to Twilight and asked, "Derpy and I are staying at my double-wide tonight. Wanna come over?"
Twilight stammered for a moment, looking around haphazardly before looking back to Sapphire, "Could I get back to you on that?"
"I'm leaving school at the 2:50 bell and heading to Derpy's house at 4:00 to get her. Do you live in town?"
"Uh… actually, would you mind if I caught a ride with you? If I decide to, of course!"
"Don't wreck anything and meet me outside at the orange station wagon by 3:00," Sapphire said, returning to her lunch after getting the stink-eye from Derpy when Twilight and the other girl went back to their conversation, "What?"
"Give her a chance," Derpy said, "She's not like Sunset at all- she seems nice."
"I'm sorry, but after Manehattan… just no. I'm not getting used again. Jackasses"
The next twenty minutes went by with a tense air between the four, hearing Sapphire say that one thing made Twilight curious about the sour girl's problem and if she could try to help.
Maybe the sleepover is a good idea, Twilight thought.
Without too much more interaction between Derpy & Sapphire and Twilight & her friend, lunch proceeded as usual before Derpy and Sapphire went back to English to finish a test and do absolutely nothing for the remainder of the time until gym class rolled around. Normally, Coach Iron Will didn't let students leave the gym without a valid reason, and the computer club that the duo were signed up for was a valid reason, but there was a loft with two rows of chairs and a table above the gym that Sapphire, as well as Derpy on occasion, made good use of.
Because of the way the gym was built, it was hard to get a 4G signal unless you were in the loft, and the school censored the student's wireless internet connection, so it ultimately boiled down to 4G or no Github for the two, assuming the internet at the campground where Sapphire lived was down… otherwise, they could just use the girl's VPN at the campground… it hadn't been blacklisted yet.
"Have you seen Twilight?" Derpy asked Sapphire as she finally made it to the table with the wadded-up assignment sheet from science class.
"Not since lunch," Sapphire said, setting up her laptop as she opened another container of Red Bull and started drinking.
"I get what you're trying to do with that," Derpy said, taking the bottle from Sapphire, making as little of a mess as possible, "But that much Red Bull isn't good for you."
"What is?"
"Good point," Sapphire said, "But isn't it just as bad to force someone out of their own biological rhythms solely for the sake of an outdated school system that its only purpose is to educate in the worst and most inefficient way possible in batch?"
"I'm just saying you don't want to make it worse than it already is."
"Your parents are leaving town for their trip at some point after school lets out… why wouldn't you wanna go on the cruise with them too?"
"Well…" Derpy said, coming up with a quip at Sapphire, "Someone's gotta make sure you stay off of the list of cyberterrorists," she said with a gentle smile and chuckle.
Sapphire responded with a smile and chuckle of her own as she looked at Derpy and said, "Alright, that was pretty good."
"I knew it was in there somewhere!"
"Hey, neutrality has its perks," she said as her laptop connected to the VPN, "Uhp, and we… are… on!"
"So, you're okay with Twilight coming over?"
"Eh, I guess she can stay a few days," Sapphire answered, "So, you wanna just drive over or wait for me to come pick you up?"
"I have to get a few things ready," Derpy said, "Twilight can have the couch if she wants it."
"I have a cot in the extra bedroom if you want to help me drag it out this evening."
"Alright!"
Sapphire looked over and saw the coach looking at the two girls with contempt.
"Working on an assignment!" Sapphire said, "Plus, I don't wanna get hit with a ball made of duct tape again!"
This was one of those occasions where Derpy could somewhat justify sitting out of PE, mainly because they were gonna go swimming in the lake at the campground that evening, so that would more than make up for sitting out during gym class.
Plus, it was one of the last good days they'd have to swim until the spring, more than likely.
Returning to their main topics, Derpy and Sapphire had a number of "extracurricular" activities to do, although these would be under the names of MemeQueen and whatever accounts Sapphire decided to log onto the web with.
"So, I found out who was trying to hack into my server-" Sapphire said, "Some bitch from Japan."
"What were they doing looking through our stuff?"
"I don't know, but the IP address came from the Chongryon, so probably some North Korean spy looking to see what they can get their mitts on."
"Again?"
"I didn't get the name 'Cipher' for nothing."
Derpy and Sapphire had always been a lot alike, the main difference had been their execution of things. When Sunset began to take the role of Queen Bitch, Sapphire responded physically whenever the need arose while Derpy simply didn't let it bother her in the least. Both would fight tooth-and-nail for what they thought was right, though neither was known to give any effort to frivolous pursuits. Sapphire was just more inclined to protect her own interests in the moment, even if that meant forcing Sunset to go on a date with whatever she could knock her over with in the moment. Derpy, however, was slightly more of a pacifist, but when the need arose for her, she was a lion- the other person was the meat.
Granted, Sapphire had little-to-no morals showing through while Derpy did.
As gym class went on, the two sat at Sapphire's laptop, stuck on how to retaliate. Derpy, on one hand, decided it would be better to somehow let the Koreans know that they didn't have anything of interest while Sapphire, on the other hand, wanted to kick some ass.
Even if it was only virtual ass.
"Don't do anything stupid."
"Of course," Sapphire said, "Because teaching hackers a lesson isn't the smart thing to do."
"There's other options," Derpy said as Sapphire took her Red Bull back, "Seriously!?"
"Caffeine withdrawals."
Some people just had little-to-no hope for themselves and both were aware of that fact, especially how it pertained to Sapphire.
While the two were discussing the execution for a shared media server, Sapphire's phone flashed 2:45 and started playing a Korean folk song.
"That's my cue," Sapphire said, saving her work, returning the laptop to its bag, and putting on her sunglasses, "Nothing about anything can give me enough of a break around here to do something that's actually productive."
"Where are you gonna be at?" Derpy asked as they both headed down and out of the gym.
"What are you getting at?"
"Before you come over to my house."
"I found a deal on a terrabyte hard drive in Trot Valley, so I'm headed there to get it."
"We're still on for the weekend, right?"
"Oh yeah, for sure. I may just be a little late making it to your house. That alright?"
"Sure."
"If I'm gonna be later than 4:30, I'll call you and you can just head over there. My spare keyring is in the store behind the desk at the beige computer that has Windows 98 plastered on it, the safe word is 'Jinqu'."
"Why do they have one that old?"
"That used to be the computer that ran the store, then they upgraded in 2005, so that was just there for me to play on when I came to Canterlot as a kid. Now, it basically just sits there collecting dust unless I go in to help out after school or whenever- it's loaded with Office 1997, which still works great for the stuff I do, it just looks old and it can only get online through a proxy."
"Okay," Derpy said, "I guess I'll see you in a few hours?"
"You can count on it."
When Sapphire and Derpy made it to the parking lot, they saw Twilight walking around aimlessly, so the cross-eyed teen showed her where to go before getting in her Beetle and driving home, getting a call minutes after her parents had left for the cruise.
"Hello?" she said.
"Derpy? Sapphire. I'm gonna be late coming in. I've got Twilight with me, but we're taking a pit stop. Let yourself in. The store is on the opposite end of the street from my trailer, it's like a five-minute walk- you can park on the side of the house where Lakeview Pass hits Crystal Lake Circle or leave the car at the store."
"Okay," she said, "Who's running the store today?"
"Today, I think it's Golden Flash and his girlfriend," Sapphire said.
"Oh, that shouldn't be a problem then!"
"Yeah, but his bride-to-be is a total bitch- I'd rather sleep with and marry Sunset Shimmer than to put up with her… or no- probably a dead-tie."
"Is this a good idea?"
"Don't worry, he keeps her in check."
"Okay… I'll see you when you get back."
"You too," Sapphire said as the call ended.
Without hesitation, Derpy finished packing her bag and headed to the campground.
Despite not being one to envy, she had to admit that Sapphire's living situation looked nice from the outside, if not with the best circumstances on the inside, though that was a minor detail- as long as she pulled her own weight around the place, she was free to stay there.
Most of the campground's roads were less actual road and more path-to-pull-a-camper, though they all had space for two vehicles without either having to completely off of the pavement. Still, though, it was nice to be within walking distance of a store and biking distance of a patio-style restaurant, although Derpy couldn't help but feel that Sapphire had been forced to grow up way ahead of schedule as she shut off her car at the corner of Lakeview Pass and Crystal Lake Circle.
"I wonder if she'll let me room with her when I go to college," Derpy muttered, walking up the gravel road to a building with a sign that read CAMPGROUND STORE in bold letters.
Without overthinking any, she went into the store and looked around for a few moments.
The store was filled with supplies for various things and activities, keepsakes, and a couple of racks for groceries and snacks. The store looked like a relic from a few decades prior, a fact that didn't surprise Derpy when she saw the rest of the campground her first time there. The floor was linoleum with a wood-grain pattern and a partition separated a section spanning the entire left wall from the rest of the store.
It actually seemed cozy, but then again, this entire place was family owned, so it would've been hard not to give that kind of feeling.
After a few moments, a yellow-orange person with red hair came up to her, wearing a lanyard that held a name tag that read Golden Flare.
"Hey, Derpy!" he said as she was looking at a pleather bag that would, no doubt, make for a good laptop bag, "I haven't seen Sapphire yet."
"That's okay," she said, "She said your girlfriend was with you?"
Golden Flare's smile dropped, "That's… kind of history after last night."
"I'm sorry."
He let out a sigh and shook his head, "It was for the best, I caught her stealing and changing the books."
"Oh no!"
"I told my brother-in-law, she could keep the money, but she's never allowed back here again and I broke up with her."
"Well, you win some and you lose some," Derpy said, "Sapphire's in Trot Valley so she told me I could come and get the keys to her place."
"Help yourself!" he said, "Just bring the keys back afterward."
"Thanks!" Derpy said, going behind the counter.
At the back end of the area on the left sat an old computer on the floor with a mismatched monitor, keyboard, mouse, Sapphire's nametag, and a stamp, as well as a number ofotherobjects, folders, and notebooks next to the setup, but the keys were hidden between the screen and the wall. The system was completely off and a Walmart-grade desk chair sat in front of it. Across from that sat a printer on the shelf in the employee area and five computers with various labels and prices on them… most likely waiting to be sold to someone not on a vacation, as well as a small refrigerator with a label that had 藍寶石 and a coffee maker.
Maybe I should tell some people in the computer clubs about this.
Derpy didn't waste any time or try to screw with what she didn't have any business messing with, so she had the keys returned to their home within a few minutes.
Inside Sapphire's house, the first thing Derpy did was to clean up a little bit so there would actually be a spot to set up a cot in the living room. Granted, the most cleaning that actually needed to be done was to put all of the dirty clothes in the laundry and run the dishwasher- the rest could be taken care of with a can of air freshener and a damp cloth.
Either way, there was enough space in the living room to pull the cot out of the storage room and set it up, so the first thing she did was set her stuff down and get her and Twilight a place to sleep before grabbing a can of soda out of the refrigerator and setting down to her laptop in the kitchen so she could get some of her homework done before Sapphire got back- thankfully it was just a history paper and nothing major, although she was certain that she'd have to use Sapphire as a source for the majority of this one; Ms Harshwhinny had given Derpy a note to relay to Sapphire, should she want to continue skipping her class and get a passing grade for the semester.
"I really need to get a key cut for her house," Derpy muttered as she typed away at her keyboard, doing the paper as best she could before logging into Sapphire's WiFi and downloading their latest project from Github, occupying her time with that until Sapphire and Twilight came in a little while later.
"We're ba-ack!" Sapphire said, walking in the front door with Twilight and a few bags of clothes, "Is that air freshener I smell?"
"I cleaned up a little," Derpy said, "The dishes are in the dishwasher and your clothes should be dry soon."
"Thanks," she said, taking off her sunglasses and setting her own laptop up at the kitchen table as well.
"Sapphire said it was okay for Spike to join us as long as he was housetrained," Twilight said, "I hope that's okay."
"The more the merrier!" Derpy said, locking the screen on her laptop as she looked to Sapphire, "Oh, there's something I need to tell you in your bedroom."
"Okay?" she said, "Why can't you just tell me out here?"
"It's kinda personal."
"Alright," Sapphire said, looking to Twilight before retreating to the bedroom with Derpy, "If you need the bathroom, go straight to the end of the hallway- it's the middle door."
"Thank you!"
"So," Spike said after the bedroom door clicked shut, "How are you gonna get your crown back from Sunset Shimmer? Sapphire Twister doesn't exactly come off as the type to believe someone."
"I know, that's just it, Spike!" Twilight said, "Sapphire would probably zap me with a beam of magic before I had a chance to back anything up in this world! However they do that here, or that machine… Sweet Celestia!" she finished before hyperventilating.
"Twilight!" Spike said, getting her attention, "Twilight, listen to me!"
"I'm sorry, Spike," she said, "This is all just so much."
"Sapphire might not be approachable, but I think Derpy is."
"In Equestria, Derpy doesn't have the best record for this kind of thing," Twilight said, "Are you sure about this?"
"If either of them is likely to believe you're a pony princess from another world, it's her."
"And Derpy knows how to get through to Sapphire," Twilight said, "Spike, you might be onto something!"
Meanwhile, in the bedroom, Derpy and Sapphire were both sitting on the bed in thought about the next moves they should make, now that Golden Flare's fiancée was out of the picture and how to go about accepting Ms Harshwhinny's deal to Sapphire when they overheard Spike and Twilight talking in the living room.
"Did I just hear that right?" Sapphire said quietly, questioning her hearing, which had been abused on more than one occasion, thanks to loud rock music from Mongolia.
"I heard her say that she's from another world too," Derpy said, equally as quietly.
Sapphire opened the door and peeked into the living room, blinking her eyes when she saw Twilight's dog speaking before closing the door quietly a few moments later.
「You were right,」 Sapphire said, fiddling with her jacket and propping her sunglasses up on her head.
Derpy didn't have to understand any amount of Chinese to know that, whatever Sapphire just saw, was too much for even her.
"Do I want to see?"
"Peek at your own risk."
Derpy looked out and was shocked by the same scene that Sapphire had witnessed.
"I'm… gonna get a drink and see about the store," Sapphire said, heading back out with Derpy, much to the shock of Twilight and Spike.
"I… uh… I worry about a few things and I-"
"We heard and saw it," Derpy said as Sapphire, her face a bright red, grabbed her laptop and headed out.
"So you saw…"
"Yup," Derpy said, "B- but nothing's gonna change!"
"So… you know I'm a pony princess?"
"Yup."
"From another world."
"Yes."
"Trying to get back a magical crown that Sunset Shimmer stole?"
"With everything she's done, I don't think we'd want that in her hands," Derpy said, "Do you have a plan to get it back?"
"I think it got swapped with the crown Sunset Shimmer normally gets for Princess of the Fall Formal. Fluttershy said that I'd have to convince everyone in the school to vote for me instead of her to get it."
"You've got my vote," Derpy said with a gentle smile as she gave Twilight a glass of water with a straw.
Sapphire, meanwhile, was looking at the store's schedule with a can of soda in hand as her computer clicked and booted up.
She had copied everything from the original dying hard drive to a solid state drive with a clicker when she started working in the store, making that her de-facto workstation, complete with the obligatory set of 90s-looking wallpapers.
Right now, though, it was serving as her anchor to reality.
"Is it okay if I stay here for a few hours?" she said as Golden Flare approached her.
"You're really asking to pull more shifts in the store?"
"For the next several days, yes," she said as the login prompt appeared and she tried to type in her password, though it took her more than a few tries because of her shaking hands- eventually, though, she was greeted with the system letting her in.
Unknown to her as Office 97 loaded, Golden Flare had kept an eye on her, noticing how slow she was going. Sure, she was working on something as old as she was, but that wasn't the case- Golden Flare knew that it was a combination of the player and the system that made a winner… the player just wasn't there. After a few moments of thought, he pulled his chair over to her and tried to comfort her.
"Sapphire," he said, "What's wrong?"
She simply shook her head and raised her hands briefly, "You'd think I'm crazy, let's put it that way."
"Believe me, I've seen you do amazing things- you're not crazy."
"Wanna bet?"
"Sure."
"It's a talking dog."
"Sapphire, and I mean this as your cousin in the nicest way, but maybe you should cut back on the caffeine and Red Bull."
"I know what I saw."
"Please-"
"In my house… there is a talking dog… Derpy saw it too."
Golden Flare shook his head and stood up, "I'll go see, but until I do, promise me that you'll try to flush the caffeine out of your system."
"Deal," Sapphire said, now calm enough to type.
Since it was September, Sapphire could be certain that the store wouldn't be getting a lot of foot traffic, so she opened her Excel worksheet and began going over the numbers and keying in the new transactions for the week- something she'd been slacking on both Monday and Tuesday. They didn't have to be finished until Saturday evening, but it was just easier to do them by day occasionally. What Sapphire found ironic about her position in the campground was, despite being assigned to the store, she was usually doing work that pertained to something elsewhere- swapping out a router in the patio restaurant, tightening the cable to the campground's TV antenna, or organizing the summer festival that took place in mid-June. Usually, though, it boiled down to data entry that.
Still, fifteen dollars an hour with her utilities paid for was nothing to brush off, so she was able to pocket quite a bit of money.
In reality, she thought she was assigned to work in the store mainly because it was more convenient to not mess with the existing setup, especially considering the facts that it worked extremely well already and it was very much within walking distance of Sapphire's house.
"Onyx Armor is not gonna be happy when he looks over these numbers," Sapphire muttered, finishing up the receipts from the restaurant for the week, "Maybe it'll turn around."
Glancing around the computer screen, Sapphire remembered to print out the list of complaints she'd acquired over the previous week, so she opened up the file and, moments later, the printer sprang to life as Golden Flare came back in, looking as if he'd just seen a ghost.
"What in Harmony did you bring home?" he said, going behind the employee counter and sitting down.
"I don't wanna go back there either," she said, stapling the pages together and putting them in a folder, "Trust me, taking your mind off of it helps. Tremendously."
"If you say so," he said as Sapphire shut down the computer and got ready to head back to her house.
Eventually making it back to her house, Sapphire was greeted with, surprisingly, nothing out of the ordinary… considering the circumstances, of course.
Derpy, Twilight, and Spike were sitting in the living room, talking about the princess's situation, over a bowl of chips.
"Alright," Sapphire said, taking a sharp breath as she sat her bag down at the kitchen table, "I'm not gonna pretend that I'm ready to deal with this, I'm very clearly not, but I can try to help."
"Twilight needs a record of everything that's happened at the school since Sunset Shimmer started going to CHS," Derpy said.
"I'll set up the hard drive later," Sapphire responded.
"We… don't have the kind of record she's looking for."
"What records are she looking for?" Sapphire questioned, her brow furrowing at the sound of her inquiry and the English language as a whole, "They exist somewhere, if nothing else as a simple breadcrumb trail."
"Just events that happened over the past several years," she said, "Clubs, friends, anything. Normally, in Equestria, whenever there's a friendship problem, we can just ask, or very close to it."
"But in your world, I don't think it would be so easy with a human pony princess and a talking dog," Spike added.
"The crown from her world got swapped by Sunset, and she needs all of the votes at the Fall Formal to get them," Derpy said, "Applejack, Pinkie Pie, Rarity, Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy used to be friends before, and they're her friends in her world… but not here."
Sapphire thought for a moment as she looked back at the three expressions in various states of worry.
"Alright," she said, "But we're going in your VW, Derpy."
"Wouldn't there be more room in your car?"
"That Reliant has a thirty-three year old Chrysler engine and a three-speed auto to haul a mid-size station wagon around… it needs a tune up and it was never capable of hauling ass to begin with, really," Sapphire explained, "From everything I've heard in the bedroom and just now, I really don't wanna risk Sunset getting that bitch," she held out her hand, "Keys. Now."
"Be careful," Derpy said, giving Sapphire the keys as they all piled in the Beetle.
"Speed limit is 10, I drive fast-as-hell, we can pull this off tonight," Sapphire said, letting the thing roar to life and, like she promised, hauled ass before the thing was fully started.
"First step is to pay Sunset a visit," Sapphire said, flooring the thing on the highway.
"Why?"
"See what cards she actually holds."
"You have a gambling problem."
"Either way," Sapphire said, "I was right to put that software on her computer last year. Queen Bitch."
If a lead foot had a sound and smell, that evening, it sounded akin to gears spinning several thousand times a minute and smelled lightly like gas and oil.
Eventually seeing where her phone lead her, she found an abandoned warehouse building that had a running generator sitting outside with a few extension cables ran through the door.
"Quiet guys, listen," Sapphire said, putting the car in park, tuning off the vents, and rolling down the window.
All she could hear was the generator, so she sat there until her gut feeling screamed to leave.
"Goddammit," Sapphire muttered, seeing Sunset in the rearview, "Derpy, did you get anything?"
"Nope."
"Twilight, Spike, what do you know about Sunset Shimmer?"
"She was a student of Princess Celestia before she ran off to this world. Other than that, I'm not very sure," Twilight answered.
"Ya got me," Spike added.
"Next step is the records," Sapphire said, shaking her head as she filed the VW in with traffic and headed to Derpy's house, "And I know right where we can get those."
"Where?" Derpy asked, "Those aren't really things that are kept in the school's computers."
"Clubs, friends, moments, events," Sapphire said, "I don't have a copy of them in my house, but you have them in yours."
"I remember when we met, you said that we both went against the grain, but I'm really lost now."
"It's called the yearbook," Sapphire said, "Break everything you know, without skipping, down into their individual components in any matter possible, then link said components into a web."
"Oh wow," Derpy said, "You weren't kidding."
"My mind, the way it works, does have its detriments," Sapphire said, "Right now, it works amazingly well. The other half to that story… yukh- it's a mess."
"What happens when it doesn't work?" Twilight asked, the explanation sparking a memory, "And what causes it?"
"Take the expression «9+6», Sapphire said, "In Base-10, that's a value of «15». Base-16, it's «F». Base-8, the answer comes to «17», and Base-2 reveals it to be «1111»."
Derpy glanced at Sapphire and swallowed.
"See, without any, or enough, context, I take all available connections and patterns and formulate a result for each and every one, it's why my grades are very inconsistent- Vice Principal Luna noticed this, so she's the reason I'm not back in kindergarten right now. At my old school, I had to work on the assumption of the lowest common denominator, but Celestia and Luna found a way that I can use my gift and not be afraid of it."
"Have you ever… had a friend?" Twilight asked.
"Outside of some people who run the campground, no. Just Derpy. If anything, I wish I'd met her sooner. She reminds me of my humanity and keeps me out of my head."
Sapphire's words hit Twilight and Spike like a rock while they resonated deep within Derpy herself.
"What happened in Manehattan?" Twilight asked.
"I suppose, if you're really the Princess of Friendship, you might have a solution?"
"If anything, it'd help to talk about it."
"Fine."
Thursday, September 20, 2012~~~
Sapphire Twister was walking down the hallways of Manehattan Middle School, counting down the days to Christmas Break. This year, she'd go to Canterlot and stay at the campground with Golden Flare in his rock house.
She wasn't interested in the cable or high-speed internet- just having a place to get away from it all was more than enough, and one day, she hoped to live in Canterlot County.
The people were much nicer, after all.
Passion Light, her older cousin, had prospects in Mane, and, after seeing a piece of what Sapphire dealt with, was only more than willing to leave her double-wide to the girl.
School was hell.
Home was hell.
She wasn't normal- she knew that. She knew that something was wrong with her, even though the doctor at the clinic said otherwise, but how could she be logical if what she thought was wrong was wrong? She could speak halfway-decent Chinese after a few months, but couldn't do any better than a 60 on a math test… None of her subjects did she perform well in.
It made no sense.
"Laser Flare," Sapphire asked her acquaintance as she went into homeroom, "Did you get my assignments?"
Sure, Sapphire knew that paying the girl her price of fifty dollars was a risky endeavor, but she got no leeway otherwise- she was certain to get behind and face reifications if she didn't ask the girl, but there was a chance she could get around some of it if she paid the girl.
"Who the hell are you?" Laser asked.
"Sapphire Twister, I asked you to get my assignments while I was out sick?"
"If you want me to do that, it's fifty dollars."
"I have proof I asked you," Sapphire said, playing a recording she made of the transaction.
"Sorry, but I don't play with bitches with problems," Laser said.
That set Sapphire off. She might not be able to throw the best punch in the world, but she was able to feel better by borrowing someone else's portable speaker and, with one good motion, have the girl on the ground, dazed and holding her face as a pool of blood and tears formed.
"Don't fuck with me again," Sapphire said, getting down next to Laser, "And I expect to have my money back the next time I see you."
Was she going to get suspended for starting a fight? Sure, but some people just never learn the easy way.
~~~Present~~~
"-and that's just one incident in the life of Sapphire Twister on the East Coast. Most end worse."
"Dear, Celestia," Twilight muttered.
"Rinse and repeat. It wasn't pretty. If I'd stayed there," Sapphire said, glancing around the car, "I had considered… bad things."
"Like what?" Spike asked.
"I was contemplating my own existence since age eight."
Derpy and Twilight immediately knew what the ramifications of her failure would've been.
"I'd rather not dig deeper into it," Sapphire said as she cut into the driveway to Derpy's house, "Everything ended up alright. I'm here, not dead, and actually doing something."
Something about Sapphire's explanation and story didn't sit well with Derpy so, as soon as they showed Twilight where the yearbooks were, she pulled Sapphire in the kitchen over a glass of water and pressed for details.
"You've told me the same story every time I ask you about how you came to Canterlot… your cousin walked in on a fight on something stupid and decided to bring you back to the campground to finish your schooling… What was the fight about if it was something stupid?"
"I drank a few glasses of bleach and remember coming to in the hospital with Passion Light screaming at my parents about what kind of trash they were. The experience almost killed me. I felt better after everything was said and done, but she brought me to Canterlot as soon as I was discharged and started getting a restraining order drawn up immediately. I started back to classes in mid-October when shit was starting to break down because the psychiatrist thought that, apart from my sperm- and egg-donor, it would likely cause a relapse. The issue of me having mental disorders came to light, but he said it was likely from being in that environment and that I should distance myself as much as possible from it, should I not want to go on any medicine. When I finally figured out what was going on with why I wasn't normal, a few tests revealed that I process and store information in a fundamentally different way- said I was medically a genius with asocial and antisocial behaviors, but no real disorder. In the end, he said that he was surprised that I wasn't more terrified of what I might be capable of and that I didn't use harmful behaviors as a crutch as often as he thought."
Derpy stared wide-eyed at Sapphire with her mouth slightly-open for a few moments, gasping for words… any words.
"Those bastards?" Sapphire finally said.
Derpy nodded in agreement as Twilight and Spike came into the kitchen with a few yearbooks.
"We've found them!" she said, enthusiastically before realizing what had just been said, "O- oh."
The ride back to Sapphire's house was an uneasy one… even with the addition of a plate of eggrolls from their favorite Chinese takeout place. Derpy had gotten an answer she didn't want to a question that had been bothering her since she met Sapphire as a freshman and she let some of it rub off on Twilight by way of a note in the car.
Eventually making it back to Sapphire's place, Derpy, Spike, and Twilight still didn't know how to react, but if Sapphire had put it behind her and, more-or-less, could go on unaffected, then maybe they should follow suit… at least for the night- the cause of the incident was almost three thousand miles away.
Right now, the only thing that mattered was getting Twilight's crown back.
"I hope you like Pad Thai," Sapphire said, taking the wok off of the stove and killing the flame, "I ran out of shrimp, so I hope it tastes good either way."
"You'll love her cooking," Derpy said, "Last summer, she invited me along on a trip to China with her cousin, and she cooks just like they do in Asia!"
"Thai's ready!" Sapphire said, serving four plates of the stuff, but only giving a pair of chopsticks to herself and Derpy, before heading back to the kitchen and rinsing a fork under the tap before giving it to the princess, "Twilight, I'm guessing you've never eaten with chopsticks before?"
"I've never even heard of them."
With that, the three girls and Spike ate dinner and contemplated ways of stopping Sunset Shimmer, but ultimately, decided on Twilight making a plan after she saw what she had to work with.
Thursday, September 22, 2016"Fluttershy said that I needed to win over all of the groups' votes to become princess of the fall formal, so I've compiled a list of talking points."
Spike responded with laughter as the station wagon came to a stop, "Please… continue," he said, getting into her bag before they all got out.
"I'll start by introducing myself, sprinkle some things I've learned into the conversation, and show them how I fit into this world!"
"Effective," Sapphire said, cocking her head, "I think."
"Either way, it's time to make a good first-impression on my fellow students."
As soon as they all made it into the school, they were greeted with a barrage of laughter, mostly aimed at Twilight.
"This isn't good," Derpy said, confused.
"Fifty-to-one odds that it was Sunset," Sapphire said, looking at Derpy, "You wanna bet? It's a bet! We got a bet?"
"You have a serious problem."
"No shit," Sapphire said, looking away and shaking her head- as if that wasn't common knowledge already.
"Why's everybody looking at me funny?" Twilight asked as she was pulled into a classroom with Rarity, who looked at her wide-eyed.
"Another twenty that I can tell you who, what, and why."
After a few moments, they went in, only to find her giving Twilight a quick makeover.
"Perfect!" she said, putting a new dress and wig on, "Oh… yes, this is good! No one will recognize you!"
"Why wouldn't I wanna be-"
"And we'll need a disguise for your dog… which is too bad, he's really so adorable," she said, thinking for a moment, "You know, with a little work, I think I could make him look like a rabbit instead."
"How… a rabbit?" she asked as Applejack came into the room.
"There you are, Twilight!" she said as Sapphire and Twilight both stood there confused as Rarity looked at the farmer with disdain.
"So much for the disguise."
"Rarity, are we missing something?" Derpy asked.
"I'm sure you are."
"I've been lookin' all over for ya!"
"Me too…"
"Me three!" Pinkie said, looking Twilight up and down, "I like your new look!"
"Rather inefficient," Sapphire said.
"I do have an eye for these sorts of things… not that either of you would seem to care."
"What!?" Pinkie Pie asked.
"That was an ineffective use of resources, considering the outcome," Sapphire said.
"Why do you think they don't care?" Twilight said before being motioned to not ask the question, "No, nevermind. Why were you all looking for me? What's going on?"
"Oh, she hasn't seen it yet," Fluttershy said as her, Applejack, and Pinkie Pie cringed.
"Seen what?"
Pinkie Pie opened her laptop and showed a video Sunset made and posted on YouTube to incriminate Twilight, "Oh, it's really not that bad!" she said, clicking play.
Twilight gasped before closing the lid and looking off into space.
"I take that back- it's bad!"
"But, this all happened yesterday… at the library! Has… everyone in school seen this? Is that why they were all looking at me that way?"
"Apparently," Sapphire said as the others looked away.
"What am I gonna do? No one is gonna vote for me after seeing this!"
"Not that it'll make any difference, but I'll still vote for you, Twilight," Fluttershy said as the girl's head fell onto the desk, "You were so nice for standing up for me when Sunset Shimmer was picking on me yesterday."
"If you still wanna run, maybe there's something I can do to help!" Pinkie said.
"Word of advice: Don't accept her help, she doesn't take anything seriously," Fluttershy said, inciting an argument as Sapphire looked to the pink girl and crossed her arms expectantly.
"Why do you have to be so awful to me!"
"Oh, don't play innocent, Pinkie Pie," Rarity said, scoffing, "You're no better than she is!"
"And what is that supposed to mean!?"
"I am happy to offer my assistance as well…" Rarity looked to Pinkie, "To someone who would appreciate what I have to offer!"
"You could get better help from the furry crack of a rat's ass," Sapphire said, earning a glare from Rarity, "Not that I don't mind going to my cousin's wedding a denim jacket from Germany, boots, and a shirt from the 2015 Tokyo Robot Fair, but I paid for a dress and heels that were appropriate… for once. What I ended up with was a dress made from scraps that didn't even fit right- The shoes, and they wereinfested with fleas, no less, looked like they were ran over by a fucking truck!"
"Don't let it bother you," Derpy said, keeping Sapphire from getting dragged into the three girls' argument, "Everything turned out just fine for the wedding."
"You're right," Sapphire said, glaring at the white girl as Spike hid in Twilight's bag again, "But she's still lucky I didn't beat her into next week."
"Listen to y'all carryin' on!" Applejack said, sitting on a desk as she dropped an apple core into the trash, "Get over it'n move on!"
"You mean like how you've gotten over what happened with Rainbow Dash?" Rarity said.
"She said she'd get the softball team to make an appearance at my bake sale… I tell everybody they're comin', then not one of 'em shows up! She made a liar outta me! That's different!"
"It is not!" Rarity, Pinkie, and Fluttershy said.
"It is too!" Applejack said as the room descended into madness once again.
"Stop!" Twilight said, "All of you!"
"Dammit, I was starting to enjoy seeing that."
"I wanna show you something," Twilight said, pulling Derpy's yearbook from her bag and opening it, "You were friends once."
"Freshman fair," Applejack said, looking to Pinkie, "Y'all remember?"
"Everyone nodded in agreement."
"But something happened… I think that something was Sunset Shimmer."
"Well, it's a nice theory, darling, but Sunset Shimmer had nothing to do with it," Rarity said.
"She's right!" Fluttershy said, "Sunset Shimmer isn't the one who ruined my silent auction with fireworks and noisemakers… It was supposed to be a serious event," she continued, turning away, "And Pinkie Pie ruined it."
"What are you talking about!?" she said, checking her phone, "I got a text from you saying you didn't want a silent auction- you wanted a big party!"
"I never sent you a text."
"You didn't?"
"You don't think she's the one who's been sending me those emails, do you?" Rarity said, "Everytime I volunteer to help with the decorations at a school function, I get an email from Pinkie Pie saying she has plenty of volunteers, and then I find out she's done everything herself!"
"I never sent you any emails!" Pinkie said as Twilight looked to her with a raised eyebrow.
"Xiāngfǎn to your earlier statement, it was her who delivered the outfit to me," Sapphire said, shrugging, "After losing another wad of cash, I decided I was through dealing with this shit and called it quits."
"Maybe she's the reason Rainbow Dash didn't show up for my bake sale!" Applejack said, coming to a realization.
"You never asked Rainbow Dash why she didn't show up?"
"I guess I kinda stopped talkin' to her at all after that," she said, sheepishly as she took off her stetson.
"Maybe now would be a good time to start," Twilight said with a gentle smile as she put the hat back on her head and they all headed to the soccer field, where they found the athlete kicking soccer balls across the field before her and the farmer began to talk things out.
"They're talking," Rarity said, "That's a good sign!"
"Hugs!" Pinkie Pie said, "Hugs are always good!"
"Somebody," Applejack said, walking up to the bleachers, "And I think we can all guess who, told Rainbow Dash that my bake sale had been moved to a different day! Dash showed up with all the softball team and though I'd canceled on her!"
"Telling you now, if you want in the pool, toss some green in the hat," Sapphire said, dead-faced.
"So, you're looking to dethrone Sunset Shimmer and become Princess of the Fall Formal, huh?" the athlete asked, inciting a sheepish nod from Twilight, "Gotta say, I'd really love to see that happen- I'll totally help you out. All you gotta do is beat me in a game of one-on-one. First one to five goals wins."
"What?" Twilight asked, worriedly.
Rainbow Dash kicked the ball into her goal and started the game, "One's in!"
Easily beating Twilight, she was left laying on the ground winded as everyone checked to make sure she was alright.
"That's game!" Rainbow Dash said.
"I… really though you were gonna pull it off there in the end!" Rarity said.
"Is that what I'm like when I gamble?" Sapphire asked, earning a couple of nods, "Oh shit."
"So, what's the plan?" Rainbow Dash said, leaning down to help Twilight up, "How can I help you be princess instead of Sunset Shimmer?"
"But… I… lost!" Twilight panted.
"Of course you lost, I'm awesome!" Rainbow bragged, "But I'm not gonna help just anybody beat Sunset Shimmer, the Fall Formal Princess should be someone with heart and determination! You proved that you got 'em both."
The girls cheered while Sunset, Snips, and Snails hid behind the bleachers, planning their sabotage.
Later on at Sugarcube Café, Twilight, Sapphire, and Derpy joined the five girls for coffee, though Twilight's odd request didn't go unnoticed as she bumped into a blue-haired boy, spilling her drink.
"We've got to stop bumping into each other like this," he said.
"You know me," Twilight said, anxiously chuckling, "Always trying to make a big splash around here! Because my drink kinda… splashed… on the ground!" she continued, looking at him for a moment, "I'm gonna go over there now!"
"Please tell me you either have a death wish or some kind of severe neurological problem," Sapphire said, drinking her Robusta Red Eye in nearly one gulp.
"How uncouth," Rarity mumbled, "But she is right."
"Why?"
"He is the ex-boyfriend of Bitch," Sapphire said, going back for a refill.
"Who knows what Sunset Shimmer would do if you got her crown and ex-boyfriend."
Twilight stumbled over her words before coming to a realization, "Ex-boyfriend?"
"Flash Sentry broke up with her a few weeks ago," Fluttershy said.
"Yeah, I'm surprised she hasn't done anything to him yet," Derpy added as Flash shot Twilight a glance as he left.
"Maybe she's just waiting until she has the power to do something really awful."
"Alright girls," Applejack said, "Dance is tomorrow night, and we still don't know how we're gonna get Twilight the votes she needs to be named Princess. Right now, folks only know the Twilight from the video Sunset Shimmer posted online, but we need to help 'em see her differently."
"Shocked you came up with that," Sapphire said, irritating the farmer, "We do know she's quick to adapt and learn, so we have that working for us… but she's got someone else's face plastered over her own at basic - I hate arguing over the goddamned internet – but people are aware she's been staying with Derpy and me at the campground, as well as the… glaringly obvious… fact that she's not from around here- I'll go with Nova Scotia for my own sanity, we do have the potential to put up that she's learned to take the piss from and spray it on people like Rarity, although that still leaves a sizable chunk with unfavorable results, so the rest of any plan based on that would have to be flawless in execution."
Sapphire's statement was met with annoyed and confused looks.
"I've got it!" Rarity exclaimed after a few moments of thought, attracting the attention of everyone in the building before blushing and toning herself down and reaching for her bag, "I mean, uh, perhaps I have a solution… this may be a preposterous idea, but what if we all wore these as a sign of unity?" she said, holding up a pair of ears and a tail, both in blue-and-yellow.
The other girls looked at her confused, with the exception of Sapphire, who had her mouth open and ready to spit a sarcastic or cynical remark, but unfortunately came up empty.
"Freshman year, they were very popular, a way for everybody to show their school spirit!" she said, putting them on, "You know, Go Canterlot Wondercolts!" she said, jumping as if she were cheering before admitting, "I haven't sold any in ages. I mean, the seven of us are obviously very different, but deep down, we're all Canterlot Wondercolts. Sunset Shimmer was the one who divided us, Twilight Sparkle is the one who united us!" she said as the girls put on the ears and tails, "And we are going to let everyone know it! What do you think?"
The other girls agreed with Rarity, even Sapphire admitting defeat in not-so-many words before finding a remark to piss someone off… yet again.
"United fronts have been proven to work… even if they are completely ridiculous."
"And you think your idea isn't?"
"Out of everything, we have no good options that retain their dignity, or any at all that are good. I'm saying it could work, shoes-for-brains."
"Have you ever been to a dance before?" Derpy asked Sapphire.
"Not since sixth grade," Sapphire answered, "I had a bad feeling, but I decided to go to a school dance because I had just learned Korean and was almost through Chinese, so I figured I'd give myself the Friday night off and let loose. I ended up with a black eye, two fractured ribs, a bloody nose, and I reeked of ancient gasoline for a week. I'm glad I didn't dress up more than usual."
"Do you even have a dress, Sapphire darling?"
"I have a pair of flats that I wear occasionally."
"Hm," Rarity said, "I'll have to see what I'm working with, but if you would like for me to make you a dress as a measure of good will, I would be more than happy to try to make up for the awful incident that happened in August."
"Alright," Sapphire answered, pulling down her sunglasses, "I have to drop some papers off at the restaurant, so it'll be an extra stop or two, but the station wagon has a full tank of gas and fresh spark plugs."
"We'll all go," Applejack said, "Fresh Breeze deserves an explanation, and we all owe it to him, if that's alright with you, of course."
"Don't mess up the interior," Sapphire answered, downing yet another espresso before leaving with everyone and heading to the campground.
"Still looks good," Applejack said as the car coasted through the roads before turning into a spot next to a patio-style restaurant.
"I'll be back," Sapphire said, getting a folder out of her bag and taking it in the building, coming out minutes later with a can of energy drink.
"It's so… rustic," Rarity said, unable to find the right word.
"Technically, Fresh Breeze is the owner, but whenever something big happens, everyone in the family gets an equal say. Everyone you'll need is gonna be at the store," Sapphire said, driving to her house as she drank the can in a matter of moments.
"You live on the lake!?" Rainbow exclaimed as everyone got out at her house.
"Eh, close enough," Sapphire said, unlocking the door before walking to the store, "You're free to come here and swim anytime, just call first."
"I- okay."
"Now, guys, everyone's in there that you feel you owe an explanation to. I've got these papers to set at my desk and a few things to make prints of, so I'll be a few minutes. You can just come to the house when you're done," Sapphire explained as she went to her desk and got to work printing papers as the girls began to give explanations.
Eventually making it back to her house with Rarity a few minutes later, the fashion designer was taken aback by what she saw in the closet- a few denim jackets, some with logos from Europe or Asia, shirts with similar logos, as well as some from events in China, Japan, and Korea, a few pairs of jeans, and a pair of flat shoes.
"Goodness, Darling!" she said, "If I had known sooner, why I would've made you an entire ensemble!"
"Eh, it's okay," Sapphire explained, "I really only needed a dress for the one time."
"I've got the perfect idea for your new dress!" Rarity exclaimed, "I'm thinking a Chinese-style dress, blue of course, with a purple dragon and white chrysanthemum."
"China, eh?" Sapphire said, raising her eyebrow, "That actually sounds nice."
"Well, my Uncle Tech Net went to Shenzhen a few years ago if you need any help designing the dress."
"Is he difficult to find?"
"Well, he's back in the country for the next week, but a firm he's setting the network up for is in Korea… I forget where exactly, though."
"No bother, does he live here as well? Also, I'll need to take up the dress based on new measurements… you wouldn't mind coming by later, would you?"
"Actually, he lives with Golden Flare in the rock house on the hill, though an idea to get a trailer or prebuilt house for one to move into has been tossed around, but I don't think it's gonna go anywhere," Sapphire said, writing a few phone numbers down on a scrap of paper as Rarity sent a text to someone, "As for the other question, I wouldn't mind."
"That's just marvelous, Darling!" Rarity said as they both left the bedroom, only to find the others coming in the house with Rainbow and Pinkie both excited about something.
"This is so awesome!" Rainbow Dash exclaimed, "A lake… right here!"
"Just remember, you need to let my aunt know… Crystal Waters doesn't like people in her house if she's not there… or you can just come ready to jump in."
"Oh, I can't wait to have a 'School's over and we don't have homework for three months' party here!" Pinkie Pie said, reaching for a glass of soda that had likely been sitting for a day or so.
"No more sugar and caffeine for you," Sapphire said, taking the glass and sitting it in the refrigerator as soon as Pinkie had it raised to drink, "I like existence."
"Well, it was fun, but I certainly must get going to right this awful wrong," Rarity said.
"Well, you guys are more than welcome to stay for dinner," Sapphire said, "If you want, I can call my aunt and we can have a Korean dinner on the lake, or there's a patio restaurant on the campground."
"Y'all know someone who can cook 'at fancy Asian food?"
"Actually, I cook it myself, though the restaurant is homestyle too."
Everyone let their families know that they were having dinner there as Derpy took Rarity back to the boutique and Sapphire gathered her things and called her aunt before they all headed to the small house across from Sapphire's on Crystal Water Circle and Sapphire began cooking Honey Walnut Shrimp.
"That… was so good!" Rainbow Dash said, "But how do they eat with those sticks!?"
"Dash," Applejack said, "The only way Sapphire here could be more oriental is if she had slanted eyes."
"The dish is very popular in Hong Kong, and the soup is basically the national dish of Vietnam, although I added some fried kimchi for a little extra zing in there," Sapphire said, snapping her fingers to emphasize the word.
"See what I mean, Dash?"
"For your birthday, I wanna throw you a Chinese-style party!" Pinkie said, inciting confusion from everyone else.
"I think what I'll do tomorrow is to stay out of school and stew some pork so I can make Roujiamo in time for Rarity's shopping spree."
"Is that why Sunset Shimmer never got to you?" Fluttershy asked, inciting looks of anxiety from Derpy and Twilight and curious looks from her friends.
"Actually, you wouldn't want to hear the story, based on what I know about you," Sapphire said, "Previous experiences let to me just being a stone-cold bitch who, now, has a dent in her car because a certain Queen Bitch wouldn't move."
"We just didn't care," Derpy said, "Everything Sunset said about Sapphire wasn't true, although I was skeptical until she invited me over the first time."
"The bitch said I lived in a camper and was trailer trash! From the city!" Sapphire said, slamming her cup down and spilling its contents, "And she tried to convince me that Derpy was a raging idiot… definitely more than meets the eye with her, especially with the prosthetic."
"Yeah, some of the crap that Sunset Shimmer's pulled has really messed everything up," Applejack said, "She's the reason that Bloom 'n her friends don't hang out anymore."
"Yeah, Scoots doesn't even come around anymore!" Rainbow Dash said, "Imagine what Rarity's little sister goes through!"
"Oh, no doubt!" Derpy said, "Dinky's homeschooled because of her."
"That's terrible!" Twilight said, looking at everyone, "I can see where the trouble came from now!"
"Rarity says she's ready for me to stop by her place about the dress… since I guess I'm going with her plan, I'll just stew the meat tonight… I don't go to bed before 3:00 usually, and there's enough space in the storage room for you to put the cot if I'm too loud. The other one of you can take my bed if need-be."
"You never come to school in the days leading up to the Fall Formal!" Derpy exclaimed.
"Hey, she's right!" Applejack said.
"Do you have a charger for a Samsung Galaxy?" Rainbow Dash asked before looking around and seeing where the line of questioning was, "B- but yeah! The whole week leading up to the Fall Formal, you're nowhere to be seen!"
"I have a Motorola Droid Turbo, of course I do," Sapphire answered, eager to change the subject as she got a spare cable and her flats from her house, "Keep it, I'll pick a new one up at the store on the way back. Anyway, it's dark out and Rarity needs me. You guys ready?"
Sapphire Twister wasn't sure, but she probably needed a CDL to carry that many people in a car at one time, not to mention that there were two more people than there were seats in that car, so she could only hope nothing bad happened at any point.
"Nice place," Sapphire said, dryly as Rarity came over to her.
"See what a conversation can do?" Twilight said, "The whole thing was just a misunderstanding that was brought on by Sunset Shimmer… she's the reason you guys, and probably the rest of your school, split up like you did. Hopefully, bu the time the Fall Formal happens, Sunset's power will start to go away."
"What about the aftereffects?" Derpy said, worried for more than the girls that were standing there.
"I don't know, but I know you girls can help bring everyone together if you try… Rarity's plan in the café sounds like a great place to start, and if Sapphire goes to school tomorrow, I'm sure it'll make your plan work that much better!"
Moments later, Sapphire emerged from Rarity's closet wearing a long, ice-blue Cheongsam cut in the Shanghai style with elbow-length sleeves. On the front, there were two purple dragons, nearly the same shade as Sapphire's eyes, coming from the corners to a white chrysanthemum in the middle, as well as a purple dragon on the back facing the Chinese character 想 surrounded with white chrysanthemums. Looking down, one could see that she was, indeed, wearing a pair of heeled sandals. As for her body… she wasn't wearing any makeup, but her hair was sprayed and looked tousled, rather than the usual complete-and-total inattention it normally got after being towel-dried and ran through with her fingers.
"I hope this is worth it because I have no idea how you people walk in these things!" Sapphire said, holding onto anything or anyone that she could grab, thanks to the unsteadiness brought on by the sandals.
"Don't worry, darling, they're only three-inch heels," Rarity said, helping her learn to walk in them.
"San inch or san li?" Sapphire said, stopping after a few wobbly steps, "There's a huge difference!"
"I remember my first heels, I had to walk around the house in them for a few days to get the hang of it, but these are easier."
"Gee thanks," Sapphire said, her legs bowing in before she took off the sandals, "Could you box the dress and shoes for me so I can stop by on my way back home?"
"Eh, what?"
"At some point, my station wagon turned into a bus and I kinda wanna be prepared for once in my life."
"I should have it in a box by the time you get back, Darling," Rarity said as Sapphire changed back into her own clothes before taking the others home.
In the station wagon, there was an odd air around Sapphire Twister- on the one hand, she had a past that she clearly didn't want to go into and reasons for keeping everyone else at bay… for the most part. On the other, it was obvious that you'd have it made if you got on her good side… if you didn't piss her off, of course.
"Sapphire, y'all oughta sign up fer the computer club 'er somethin'," Applejack said, "Music, science… any o' them would be good places for you t'expand your circle."
"Yeah!" Pinkie said, "It's not like you're back in Manehattan where your parents made you think that you were such a screw-up that they drove you to drinking bleach because you can do things they'd never believe would be possible!"
"I am going to ask you one time," Sapphire said, "And I expect a straight answer- Did you intend for those words to come out like that, or did they just happen to fall out in that order?"
"Sapphire," Derpy said, "Applejack's right- you should sign up for more clubs."
Sapphire glanced around the car, "Don't think I'm letting anyone get off that easy again."
"I'm sure you could come up with a winning strategy against Griffinstone High on the soccer field!"
"What about helping out at the animal shelter?" Fluttershy asked, "We could always use another hand for volunteering."
"I'll… consider the offers," Sapphire said, "Until then, I'll just hang around the campground."
Thankfully for everyone involved, the rest of the drive wasn't too unbearable, although Sapphire did openly question how Maud and Pinkie could both be fully biological twins at her house.
"You know, Micro Chips does have an old Compaq laptop that he wants to make work," Derpy said as Sapphire let the station wagon coast into the campground, "It's a Presario 1200 from before the millennium."
"Does he have a copy of Windows 4 or NT 5?" Sapphire asked, "I can work with any of the supported software except for Windows NT 5.1- it's too bloated. Windows 4.9 can work, but I just don't like dealing with it- I mean, I will, I just prefer Windows 98 over Windows Me- ask anyone."
"He has Windows Me, but either works."
"And do you have his phone number?"
"Yes?"
"Text him and say that I'll bring my stuff to the school tomorrow to get it running. If I can't get it running before the bell, I'll keep it at my house until Monday, assuming he doesn't want to come to the store and get it."
"Sounds good to me!" Derpy said, sending the text message to their "fellow" techie, "Speaking of which, how do you manage disks in Windows 4?"
"Go into the command prompt and use the fdisk command," Sapphire said, "Once you've learned one version of DOS, it's pretty much the same across the board. To get Windows 3 to look and feel like Windows 4, I have a program on a couple of diskettes you can borrow."
"How do you know all of this stuff?" Derpy asked, "Apart from your computer at the store, everything you have runs Linux."
"Like I said before- I grew up with Windows. My reasons for keeping that computer there and not using my laptop for the campground boil down to that the rest of the place runs on Windows and that computer still runs after almost twenty years, not to mention that I really don't want that stuff on my laptop, so it all kinda works out, you know?"
"I guess, but how long can you keep holding onto something that old?"
"We're not talking about my computer anymore, are we?" Sapphire said, looking at Derpy as she pulled into the driveway.
"No."
"Damn you're good," Sapphire said, killing the engine.
"I'm afraid that Sapphire turned out like how I would've if Princess Celestia hadn't sent me to Ponyville to learn about friendship, Derpy," Twilight said, following Sapphire in with Derpy.
"Do you think it's too late for her?"
"I hope not… there's just so much untapped potential with her, and finding the right group of friends would make it so much better."
"Are you sure?" Derpy asked, the trio watching Sapphire drink from a bottle of vodka.
"There's still hope for her," Spike said before walking over to her.
"Hm?" she said, setting the empty bottle in the trash before stumbling and opening a box of Little Debbie cakes, "Oh shit, wrong order."
"Sapphire, you're just like Twilight used to be," Spike said, fanning the smell of vodka away from his face when Sapphire picked him up, "She started out as a recluse who lived in a library and look at her now- she's the Princess of Friendship in Equestria!"
"Either low standards or something I have to see for myself," Sapphire said, "Unless, of course, she has a personality disorder… which is entirely possible."
"I'm not dismissing the idea," Twilight said, "But until I can make the portal open on command, you can't come back to Equestria unless you want to be stuck there for thirty moons after tomorrow night."
Sapphire raised an eyebrow with skepticism as she sat Spike back down.
"Everything we've told you… don't you believe it?"
"Honestly, with the talking dog and your mannerisms, it seems a hell of a lot more likely than anything I could come up with," Sapphire explained, "I just don't think that I'm cut out for friendship. Everything I've heard from you over the past two days suggests there's an equivalent of us in your world."
"There is."
"Wouldn't the better solution be to work with your version of me? If I'm just as much of a recluse there with a brain that calculates every possible step and conclusion to problems, and you only have a few days over here, then you could figure out the solution in Equestria without being crunched for time," Sapphire said, "You know?"
"I suppose you're right," Twilight said, slightly embarrassed.
"Don't get upset," Sapphire said, "If there's a problem, the natural thing to do is to jump for a solution- even if it's a terrible one at best."
"Sapphire," Derpy said, "Don't shut her down just yet! Maybe it's a good idea!"
"And what?" Sapphire retorted around a mouthful of twinkie, "Run out of time compressing sixteen years of therapy into just a few hours, leading me to be stuck in friggin' ponyland for two-and-a-half years?" she washed the snack down with a can of soda, "I don't think that's a very good option, considering how much I rely on around here and vice versa."
"I get what you're saying, but what if she gets the solution to that problem before then?"
"In the extremely-unlikely event, Hell would freeze over," Sapphire said, sitting down to an episode of Sanford & Son with what was left of her soda.
"I think what I'll do when I go back is find out how to work with the portal before coming back to help Sapphire Twister."
"If that'll even work," Spike said, "Derpy, are you sure she's not abusive to you?"
"One time last year, she hit me in the face when I tried to get her to stop drinking so much caffeine, but that was the worst of it."
"You stole my soda, energy drink, and coffee!" she said, "What the hell did you expect!?"
"It wasn't my finest moment," Derpy said, "But she made it through the week… let's talk more outside… or in the store."
"That's probably a good idea."
The walk to the store gave them some insight about Sapphire, but nothing major until they sat down at her workstation and began talking.
"What was Sapphire like when you met her?" Twilight asked, "Was she anything like Sunset?"
"Well… yes and no," Derpy said, "She didn't want power, she never has, but she also knows how to manipulate people into getting what she wants. I've met her parents on one occasion, and they were different from what the rest of her family said they're like, so she probably learned that from them. The only real power she wants, though, is to make people go away."
"How did you get through to her?"
"I had an old computer that I needed help with, so she came over and fixed it. Afterward, my mom made us dinner and she spent the night."
"She may be able to give us some insight on Sunset Shimmer, then," Twilight said, "I think?"
"Maybe, but there's two Sapphire Twisters," Derpy explained, "The one that her family and friends see and the one that everyone else sees… right now, you're seeing the first one."
"And the 'Public Sapphire' was the one that sat on the other end of the table the other day at school?"
Derpy nodded, "I've never seen her manipulate anyone for anything big, but she does do it for a cheap laugh sometimes."
"When Sapphire does these things… do they hurt other people?"
"Not really," Golden Flare said, hearing their conversation, "They might in the moment, but they're never any worse for wear after the fact."
"I don't know about how unstable you could call her," Derpy said, "She seems pretty solid to me, but she does break rules for her own benefit."
"Maybe she could get through to Sunset if I can't."
"Don't think like that!" Derpy said, "Of course you'll get through to her!"
"Isn't Sunset Shimmer that orange girl in the biker jacket that brought that dress in here?" Golden Flare asked, "That whole fiasco really set Sapphire off."
"You know her?" Twilight asked.
"Yeah, she comes in here occasionally for a bag or to have her laptop fixed."
"Sunset comes here?" Derpy asked.
"Yeah, Sapphire fixes her computer at least once every few months- she says that it's a piece of garbage."
Derpy became wide-eyed for a moment as she thought about what that implied.
"She's not very pleasant when she comes around, though," he added, "Personally, I only think she's doing it for the money, but damn! The last time, she dropped off the computer in the morning and I didn't see Sapphire again until I called her to let her know that the girl was gone for the day."
Suddenly, Derpy had an idea, "Do you have the passwords to her stuff?"
"I don't, but knowing her… no doubt she'd keep a backup somewhere. Good luck finding it, though," he said, "If you wanna search, I won't tell her."
"Wait, really?"
"I've heard enough of your conversation to know you want answers she won't give. Unfortunately, I don't have those answers, either. I didn't, and won't, see anything."
"Thank you, sir," Twilight said before turning to Derpy, "Should we really be looking through her stuff?"
"Sapphire has always been able to deal with Sunset and get under her skin," Derpy said, looking around the keyboard and in a plastic bowl of disks of all sorts, coming up short until they found a small lockbox, snuggled between the computer tower and the wall and secured in place with a steel cable, "How did I never notice that?"
Eventually finding the key, they saw a floppy disk labeled PWD, as well as an envelope that had a dollar sign written on it in marker.
Twilight had long-since picked up on the fact that both Derpy and Sapphire were set in their ways, but only Sapphire would be willing to hide stuff in a pile of junk- nearly in plain sight.
Finding the box worked out extremely well for them both- nobody used floppy disks anymore and, while it was a given fact that there would be a login prompt when the computer loaded, Sapphire had taught Derpy a trick to breaking into a computer running anything from Windows 95 to Windows Me, and the yellow-beige box fit squarely into that category… though it wouldn't connect to the network until they got her password, so no Facebook or Instagram for the two, assuming that was even a real concern to begin with.
"Is this really the way to stopping Sunset?" Twilight asked.
"Sapphire taught me this trick when she first showed me what she did here," Derpy answered, "She told me that if I ever needed to get something and she wasn't around that I could do this… and I think now is as good a time as any to use it."
After the overly-complicated process was finished, they were both greeted with a folder full of dossiers on everyone Sapphire had come into contact with, as well as herself… written with uncomfortable detail.
They were staring into the inner-reaches of the girl's mind, yet had to pretend to see nothing.
Friday, September 23, 2016Barring the uncomfortable silence in the car, everything had went well for the trio until lunch.
「I hope this works,」 Sapphire said, taking out her chopsticks and lunch as she saw the other girls put on their ears and tails as Pinkie started to make a beat for her friends to join into, eventually bringing Twilight in as she began to sing about being true to herself and passing out the ears and tails to everyone in the lunchroom.
"I think this is gonna work, Sapph- huh?" Derpy said, noticing Sapphire looking through the glass door at Sunset.
"Don't look to me," Sapphire said, dancing with the other students, "She'll make us out."
"Aye-aye," Derpy said, continuing on with the activities.
「I have a bad feeling…」 Sapphire said as she saw Sunset walk away.
Everything seemed to go according to Rarity's plan- the school was united, rather than separated, and Twilight's image had been repaired, so the rest of the afternoon should've been a breeze until Twilight, Derpy, and Sapphire were called into Vice Principal Luna's office about fifteen minutes after lunch had ended.
"But… I don't understand-" Twilight said.
The princess was filled with anxiety and worry, Derpy with worry and confusion, and Sapphire with pissed-off annoyance.
"This is clearly you two in the photographs, is it not?" the vice-principal asked.
"Excuse me," Sapphire said as Twilight stammered, "But you've never seen Derpy or myself do shit like this."
The older woman looked at Sapphire expectantly with her arms crossed and one eyebrow raised.
"Well, almost never."
"I think it should be fairly obviousl that we cannot let someone who would do something like this compete for the fall formal crown," Luna said to Twilight, "And as for you, Sapphire, I thought this behavior was beneath you… clearly they were right about you in Manehattan. As a result, you will be expelled from Canterlot High."
"Vice-Principal Luna!" Derpy said, "I know Sapphire can be brash, but I know she wouldn't destroy the gym- she was with me."
"And what does that prove?"
Derpy pulled out her phone and showed the older woman the pictures and videos she'd taken last night of Sapphire, "Why else would someone like Sapphire even consider getting a dress or bathing more than three times a week-"
"You're getting awfully close to a line, Crosseye."
"Why else would she even consider getting that stuff? I've been helping her like you said and she actually wanted to go to the dance this year!"
"Is this true, Miss Twister?"
"Uh, yeah," Sapphire said, "My cousin's wedding was a bust and my next possible shot at going to Asia, by any margin, is when my uncle goes to Hachinohe, Japan in November," she paused for a beat, "Personally, I'd rather go to Tokyo, Yokohama, or Osaka, but I'll take what I can get," she said as everyone looked at her, "Hey, East Asia is East Asia. Doesn't matter if it's Hong Kong, Macao, China, Korea, or Japan. They all eat with sticks and have faces filled with slits and slants."
"Really?" Derpy asked.
"Hey, my uncle's girlfriend was Asian and she laughed her ass off at that. I mean, she was from Vietnam, so…"
"I suppose that is plausible," Luna said, "Still, this does not excuse your actions, Twilight."
"Vice-Principal Luna," Flash Sentry said, barging into the office with cut-up pictures and giving them to her, "I found these in a trash can in the library. I thought you should see them. Someone obviously combined these photos to make it look like Twilight and Sapphire were the ones who trashed the gym."
"I appreciate you bringing this to my attention, Flash," Luna said, sitting back down to her desk, "In light of this… new evidence, you may, of course, continue your bid to become crowned Princess of the Fall Formal."
"Thank you!" Twilight said, hugging Flash, "You have no idea how important this is to me!"
"What was I gonna do? Not prove your innocence? Wouldn't be much of a Canterlot Wondercolt, would I?"
"I'm glad that worked itself out," Derpy said, her tension going away.
"But there's still the issue of the gym's destruction," Sapphire said.
"Unfortunately, she's right," Luna said, "I'm afraid enough damage has been done to the gym that we'll have to postpone the dance until tomorrow night," she left the room, "If you will excuse me, I need to let my sister know about this latest development."
"I'm curious as to just how bad it actually is," Sapphire said, leaving the room as Derpy followed soon after.
"This looks bad," Sapphire said, kicking a piece of debris.
"Any ideas?"
"Canterlot City High School has around a thousand students… maybe if they could all stand in a room without killing each other, it could work."
The two of them pondered for a few moments before Sapphire saw Twilight and immediately drove the three to the boutique, fully aware of the storm of panic in the purple girl's head.
"Sapphire, everything alright with her?" Rainbow Dash said, "I know she's been hanging out at your place and all, but…"
"I know one thing about her," Sapphire said, "And it drove me out of my own house on Wednesday. She panics and talks to herself."
Applejack looked at Sapphire with a kind of scrutiny that you could only expect from a human lie detector, "Sugarcube, somethin' ain't soundin' right."
"Look," Sapphire said, "Shut up!"
"What'd y'all just say t'me?"
"You come off as a human lie detector, but I don't know shit more about her than you do! Derpy was with me, she saw me get a drink and walk out!" Sapphire said, turning red, "There's obviously something bigger at play you're not seeing here!"
After a few moments, Twilight opened the curtain.
"You okay?" Applejack said, looking to her.
"The Fall Formal isn't happening tonight," Twilight said.
"What!?" Pinkie asked.
"It had to be postponed because Sunset Shimmer had Snips and Snails ruin all of Pinkie Pie's decorations."
"What!?"
"But the Fall Formal has to happen tonight!"
"Wh-" Pinkie started before Applejack covered her mouth.
Twilight sighed before starting to explain, "You see-"
"You're from an alternate world, and you're a pony princess there, and the crown actually has a magical element embedded in it that helps power up other magical elements and without it, they don't work anymore and you need them to help you protect your magical world, and if you don't get the crown tonight, you'll be stuck in this world and you won't be able to get back for a really, really long time!" Pinkie Pie said, earning confused and shocked looks from everyone in the room.
"Yeah… I'm pretty sure that isn't the reason."
「What the hell is your problem!?」 Sapphire asked in Chinese.
"Nope, she's pretty much spot-on," Spike said amid the confusion.
"He can talk!?" Rarity said, flipping out as Spike walked over to her.
"Oh yeah!" he said, "And back where I come from, I'm not even a dog. I'm a ferocious, fire-breathing dragon!"
Fluttershy immediately knelt down to his level, "This… is… so amazing! Tell me, what are you thinking right now?"
Spike walked over to Rarity, "Sure would love a scratch behind the old ears."
"Gah…"
"Uh, maybe later."
"How did you know all that?" Derpy asked.
"It's Pinkie Pie, you won't get a straight answer," Sapphire said, looking to the pink girl, "But, since the cat's out of the bag, how did you know that?"
"Just a hunch!"
"Wait a minute!" Applejack said, "Let me get this straight. You're… a pony?"
"You're a princess?" Rarity asked.
"You're from another world?" Fluttershy asked.
"Mhm," Twilight said, blushing.
"That… is… awesome!" Rainbow Dash said as the girls and Spike enjoyed a moment without that piece of tension in the air.
"See? Told ya."
Back at the gym, the girls were looking at the wreckage with disdain.
"I simply cannot believe they did all this!" Rarity said.
"If only I had some kind of… party cannon that could decorate everything super-fast," Pinkie said.
"If it has an age limit, I don't want you to have it while we're in the same reality," Sapphire said flatly.
"I know it seems impossible, but maybe if we all work together?" Twilight suggested.
"Now that's the can-do spirit I'm lookin' for in a Fall Formal princess!" Applejack said, "Let's do it, y'all!"
"Absolutely!" Rarity said.
"Rock on!" Rainbow Dash said.
"Yes indeedily!" Pinkie Pie said.
"Yay," Fluttershy said.
"Not letting this one go down the shitter," Sapphire said.
"Tonight's gonna be great!" Derpy said.
Twilight looked at the group and began helping them sweep and clean. Eventually, a couple of jocks saw Twilight trying to move a table and came in to help. Soon, the whole school was helping hang decorations, set up equipment, and get the gym ready, finishing by the end of the day.
"This… looks… so… good!" Pinkie said, jumping on the stage.
"For once, something came together nicely in my life," Sapphire said, looking at the gym and smiling as the principals came into the gym.
"Alright, everyone!" Celestia said, "Fall Formal is back on for this evening!"
Her statement was met with cheering.
"So you better get out of here and start getting ready. Oh, and don't forget to cast your ballots for Fall Formal Princess on your way out."
Heading back to the boutique, the girls got ready for the dance with Rarity making adjustments to the girls' outfits, Sapphire donning her Chinese dress that Rarity had given her, and Spike finding a fake mustache.
As soon as they were all ready for the dance, Sapphire grabbed her keys from her jacket before tossing the thing in the station wagon, looked to everyone, and asked, "Do you guys wanna grab a bite before we leave?"
"What did you have in mind, Darling?"
"My Aunt Golden Brown runs the restaurant in the campground."
"All 'at cleanin' sure worked up an appetite," Applejack said, "Count me in!"
"Does she cook that Asian stuff?" Rainbow Dash said.
"I think she uses Teriyaki sauce. Not the same thing but I don't complain," Sapphire said, "Now, we talking or getting a bite?"
"Sapphire's right," Derpy said as they all loaded into the station wagon and headed to the campground's restaurant and sat down to a homecooked meal on the lake before Rarity called a limo to pick them up and take them to the dance.
"Twilight!" Flash called, getting out of his Camaro and running up to her, "Look, I know you said 'no' about going to the Fall Formal with me, but… would you reconsider and at least have one dance?"
"I didn't say no," Twilight said, "I mean, I did, but, I didn't mean no to you. I was… what I mean is… yes, I'd love to dance with you."
At that, Twilight, Derpy, and Sapphire headed to the gym with the others.
"Didn't you want a date, Sapphire?" Derpy asked.
"The last time I tried dating a guy, he roofied my drink and I woke up the next morning naked in his bed with the words RETARD SLUT painted on my body- I was sore for two days," Sapphire said, looking at Derpy's dress, "Never took you for the type to even have a dress on-hand."
Sure, it was true, Derpy hadn't fixed herself up as elegantly as the other girls, but she did keep a black dress and heels on hand. Hell, even Sapphire had admitted before that the lipstick and nail polish were good touches, though she was sure she could set fire to her hair by giving it a static shock.
Eventually getting to the gym, Sapphire scanned the floor for a guy, eventually settling on Big Mac.
"Hey," she said, walking up to him, "Wanna dance?"
"Eeyup," he said, looking back at her.
「That was quick,」 Sapphire said, mildly shocked.
"Ah like those dragons," he said as they went onto the dance floor, "You the girl that cooked that Chinese food for Applejack the other night?"
"Absolutely."
"Might've done too good a job."
"Hm?"
"Granny's wonderin' if you could come over and cook 'at for a family dinner one night."
"Sure," she said, "You know, one of my cousins goes to East Asia every-so-often, he's got some clients over there that pay him to service their stuff."
"Hm?" he said, completely lost.
"Anyway, he's going to Japan in November and South China in February. Usually, I invite Derpy to come along with me, but I was thinking that maybe you'd like to go?"
"Let's focus on now," he said, "Ah barely know ya."
As the dance continued through the evening, Twilight's friends were enjoying the night.
"Anybody seen Sunset Shimmer?" Twilight asked.
"Maybe she was too embarrassed to show!" Rainbow Dash said, "She's gotta know you won by a landslide!"
"Maybe."
Moments later, the music slowed and the lights on the stage came on as Principal Celestia took her place.
"First off, I wanna say how wonderful everything looks tonight. You all did a magnificent job pulling things together after the unfortunate events of earlier. And now, without further ado, I'd like to announce this year's winner of the Fall Formal Crown," she said, as Luna came onstage with the crown and an envelope, "The princess of this year's fall formal is… Twilight Sparkle!"
Everyone cheered as Twilight took her place onstage and Principal Celestia gave the crown to her.
"Congratulations, Twilight," she said as the princess waved.
"Twilight! Help!" Spike called.
"Spike?" she said, eventually seeing Snips holding Spike before running after them, her friends all following, "They've got Spike!"
Eventually making it to the statue, the eight girls were met with Sunset Shimmer wielding a sledgehammer, about to shatter the glass on the Wondercolt statue.
"Twilight!" Spike said before having his mouth held shut.
"Don't hurt him!"
"Oh, I wouldn't dream of it! I'm not a monster, Twilight," Sunset said, looking behind her, "Let him go."
Spike worriedly ran to Twilight.
"You don't belong here," Sunset said, "Give me the crown, and you can go back to Equestria tonight or keep it, and never go home!" she continued, readying the hammer to shatter the portal, earning a gasp from the princess, "Tick-tock, Twilight! We haven't got all night. The portal will be closing on its own in less than an hour. So, what's your answer?"
"No!"
"What!?" Sunset said, "Equestria! Your friends! Lost to you forever! Don't you see what I'm about to do to the portal?"
"Yes!" Twilight said, "But I've also seen what you've been able to do here without magic. Equestria will find a way to survive without my element of harmony! This place might not, if I allow it to fall into your hands. So go ahead, destroy the portal! You are not getting this crown!"
"Fine," she said, dropping the hammer, "You win."
"You… are… so awesome!" Rainbow Dash said.
"Can't believe you were gonna do that for us," Applejack said
"Whatever happens, we're sure to find a solution," Sapphire said, "I just know it."
"It's no wonder you're a real-live princess," Rarity said, infuriating Sunset.
"Yes, she's so very special!" Sunset said, tackling Twilight and grabbing for the crown, as Spike grabbed it and ran, "Grab him, you fools!"
Quickly getting cornered, Rainbow yelled for Spike to pass her the crown, grabbing it before passing it to Fluttershy, who dropped it when Applejack lassoed her out of harms way. Snips grabbed the crown, then Pinkie, Derpy, Applejack, Sapphire, Rarity, and Twilight before she accidentally tossed it away from Snips and Snails, causing it to fall into Sunset's hands.
"I'll take that!" she said, "At last… more power than I could ever imagine!" she finished, putting the crown on before its magic, in no subtle way, transformed her into a red, winged she-demon.
Without a second thought, she zapped Snips and Snails, turning them into her minions.
"This is gonna be so cool!" Snips said as Pinkie Pie, Applejack, and Rainbow Dash readied themselves to fight, stepping back in the process.
Looking to the student body, they all locked themselves in the building in fear.
"I've had to jump through so many hoops tonight, just to get my hands on this crown, and it really should've been mine all along!" she said, "But let's let bygones be bygones. I am your princess now, and you will be loyal to me!" she said, destroying the front of the school as she made a fist.
"Jesus Murphy!" Sapphire said, grabbing Fluttershy and running to safety, "Derpy, get Pinkie!"
"Got it!" she said, grabbing the hyper girl.
"Hey, farmgirl with the extra balls, get back here!" Sapphire called as Sunset turned the entire student body that was in the building into mindless zombies to do her bidding, "Big Mac?"
"Sapphire, don't do anything rash!"
"She may see how good my aim is if what I think happened just happened."
"Don't tell me you-" Derpy said as Sapphire grabbed her hand and placed it on her inner thigh, "Is it loaded?"
"With extra ammo in my bra."
"Good move."
"Spoiler alert, I was bluffing when I said I was going to destroy the portal. I don't want to rule this pathetic, little high school… I want Equestria, and with my own little teenage army behind me, I'm going to get it!"
"No!" Twilight said, "You're not!"
"Oh, please, what exactly do you think you're going to do to stop me? I have magic, and you have nothing!"
"She has us!" Rainbow Dash said as she, Pinkie Pie, Applejack, Rarity, and Fluttershy stood together, inciting a smile from Twilight.
"And a couple of crazy bitches from a trailer park!" Sapphire said, stepping up with Derpy.
"Gee, the gang really is all back together again!" Sunset said, laughing as she wiped a tear away, "Now step aside! Twilight has tried to interfere with my plans one-too-many times, already!" she continued, shooting a blast at them, "She needs to be dealt with!"
Only an instant before, the girls all huddled around Twilight.
"What?" the she-demon asked as the girls realized what had happened.
"The magic contained within my element was able to unite with those who helped create it!" Twilight said, pointing to the crown before her and the human versions of her friends floated into the air.
"Honesty… kindness… laughter… generosity… loyalty… magic!" she said, "Together with the crown, they create a power beyond anything you could imagine, but it is a power you don't have the ability to control! The crown may be on your head, Sunset Shimmer, but you cannot wield it because you do not possess the most powerful magic of all! The magic of friendship!" Twilight continued as a rainbow laser from her and her friends hit Sunset.
"No! What's happening!"
"Here and in Equestria, it is truly the only magic that can unite us all!" Twilight continued, unhypnotizing the students and reverting Sunset Shimmer, Snips, and Snails.
Moments later, everything was calm. The whole student body looked out to see the six girls laying on the pavement, as well as an injured Derpy and Sapphire Twister as Spike licked Twilight and she came back to and hugged him before they all looked into a newly-formed crater.
"You will never rule in Equestria," Twilight said, walking up to the edge of the hole and looking at Sunset, "Any power you may have had in this world is gone! Tonight, you've shown everyone who you really are! You've shown them what is in your heart!"
"I… I'm sorry," Sunset said, looking back, crying, "I'm so sorry! I didn't know there was another way!"
"The magic of friendship doesn't just exist in Equestria, it's everywhere!" Twilight said as Pinkie wrapped everyone in a hug, "You can seek it out, or you can forever be alone. The choice is yours."
"But, all I've ever done since being here is drive people apart," Sunset said, climbing out of the hole, "I don't know the first thing about friendship!"
"I bet they can teach you," Twilight said, gesturing to the girls she came to the dance with.
"Those are my girls! Spike said, clapping."
"Did that dog just talk?" Brawly Beats said, "Whoa, weird!"
"Seriously? The talking dog is the weird thing about all this?"
"I for one think you're adorable!" Rarity said, picking him up and scratching behind the ears.
"I believe this belongs to you," Celestia said, handing Twilight the crown, "A true princess in any world leads, not by forcing others to bow before her, but by inspiring others to stand with her. We have all seen that you are capable of just that. I hope you see it too, Princess Twilight."
"I do," she said, nodding as everyone cheered.
"Would now be a completely awkward time to ask you for that dance?" Flash asked, holding his hand to her as she looked up and giggled before heading back to the gym.
"I'll fill in the guitar lead," Sapphire said, wiping some blood off of her face and stuffing a tissue up her bleeding nostril.
"Can you play?"
"Piano, guitar, bass, electric guitar, and the above with a bow," Sapphire said, earning a look from Flash as she shrugged, "Derpy saw me bust a move in a mall in China one day."
"Sure," Flash said, "That sounds great."
Back in the gym, Sapphire had taken Flash's electric guitar and a bow and a sheet of lyrics that Pinkie had pulled from what seemed like the future.
"Alright, nobody wanted me up here, so that's too-damn-bad for you. Every so often, I go with my family to anywhere in East Asia, and I found a Mongolian album when I was in Shanghai, so here's a song that I think you'll like," Sapphire said as she began to play and bust a move, making sure the other guy with a microphone had a copy of the lyrics, "This is for Twilight and Flash."
The rest of the dance went off flawlessly until Twilight had to return to Equestria.
"You'll look out for her, won't you?" Twilight asked.
"Of course we will," Rarity said, "Although, I do expect some sort of apology for last spring's debacle."
"I have a feeling she'll be handing out a lot of apologies," Twilight said.
"We better get going," Spike said as Derpy came over to her with a photo album and camera.
"Here, so you can remember us," she said, giving them to Twilight.
"I know we've only been friends for a short time, but I'm gonna miss all of you so much!" Twilight said, before heading to the portal.
"That crown really does suit you, Princess Twilight," Spike said.
"You know what, Spike? I am starting to feel a little more comfortable wearing it.
"And the wings?"
"I've been walking on two legs and picking things up with these," she said, holding her hands up as she walked back through the portal, "Wings? I'm thrilled that's all I'll be dealing with back in Equestria!"
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